‘Binyamin Netanyahu has launched a swingeing attack on supporters of a boycott of Israel, accusing them of practising “antisemitism in a new garb”, and urged the country’s friends to “expose and outflank” them by emphasising its high-tech achievements and global economic appeal.

Addressing a conference of US Jewish organisations in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister said the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement was intended to lead to “the end of the Jewish state”.

“Some supporters of the movement see it as a way to put pressure on Israel to end illegal settlements in the territories occupied in the 1967 war; others favour the creation of a single state that would dismantle Israel.

“I think the most eerie thing, the most disgraceful thing is to have people on the soil of Europe talking about the boycott of Jews,” Netanyahu said. “In the past, antisemites boycotted Jewish businesses and today they call for the boycott of the Jewish state. And by the way, only the Jewish state.’

Read more: Israel boycott movement is antisemitic, says Binyamin Netanyahu